Plans for a new supermarket on the edge of Cambridge, nearly as large as Tesco in Milton, have been approved.

The application for the food store was approved by councillors today along with the rest of the North West Cambridge development’s centre, including a doctors’ surgery, police office and power station.

A smaller shop and 117 flats for key university workers are also planned, formed around a market square.

The joint development control committee also approved an application to remodel the western edge of the development, alongside the M11, into parkland.

Speaking afterwards, Roger Taylor, Cambridge University’s project director, said: “The local centre and landscaping proposals reflect the quality of the kind of place that we will create.

“Both aspects capture slices of city and park life in Cambridge and promote the urban extension that we have always envisaged the development to be.

“The western edge and local centre create natural meeting places where people can come together.

“The university’s commitment to these facilities will establish the foundations for a new part of the city of which Cambridge can be proud.”

The operator of the supermarket is yet to be confirmed, but it will have a net floor space of 2,000 sq m, slightly smaller than Tesco in Milton, which covers 2,244 sq m.

The supermarket will be two storeys high, but most of the local centre will have four levels, and some of the residential blocks top five storeys.

The development will generate its own heat and power and the seven-storey chimney of the energy centre will be the tallest part of the scheme.

Construction will begin later this year.

The western edge will be a mixture of planting, pathways and lagoons, forming the UK’s largest water recycling system.

There will also be two major public art installations in the western edge – one, dubbed the Fata Morgana Tea House, will be a two-storey sculpture made out of stainless steel mesh on the edge of a lake. The other, called the Pixel Wall, will be a curved, reflective wall, 15m long and 3m high.

A second supermarket, around the same size as the university site’s store, is planned for the development of the former National Institute of Agricultural Botany site between Huntingdon Road and Histon Road.

The proposals were drawn up after the idea of constructing a giant 3,500 sq m shop – about the same size of Asda at the Beehive centre – was rejected in a consultation.

Castle’s Cllr John Hipkin, a member of the committee, said it was “extremely welcome” that facilities were being provided early on.

He said: “The fact there will be two supermarkets within easy reach of Castle is very welcome. A wider range of stores is always welcome.”